What Dean Saw
by calliope529
Summary: *COMPLETE* The usual story about what happened after Rory and Jess' kiss, but this time with a twist: what if Dean saw everything? R/J. Please review!
1. The Kiss

Rory's point of view:  
  
Rory stood down by the creek, taking a moment to think about what it would be like to spend the summer in Washington DC with Paris. She turned around to find Jess standing before her. "What are you doing here?" she was shocked to realize that she had said that out loud when he replied "Hello to you too."  
  
She took a deep breath, trying to recover from the loss of control that little mechanism in her brain that kept her from saying every little thing she thought. And then a terrible thought crossed her mind. The only reason he could possibly be back is that there was an emergency of some kind. "Is everything okay?"  
  
"You look nice." That wasn't quite the response she was looking for, but at least it signaled that nothing was wrong.  
  
"Thank you," she responded shyly, looking at the ground. But then she came back to reality. If there was no emergency, why was Jess back? "What are you doing here?" she asked again.  
  
"I moved back."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I moved back." About a million different thoughts crossed her mind all at once. Why had Luke let Jess move back? What would her mom think? What would Dean think? And then, the ultimate question: why did Jess want to move back? He hated Star's Hollow. Why did he give up New York for this? All Jess had here was his relationship with Luke and his friendship with Rory. Jess wouldn't have damned himself to an eternity in Star's Hollow for Luke, which left Rory. And that's when she knew. He moved back for her.  
  
At this point, having lost control of that little mechanism that kept her from saying every little thing she thought wasn't quite the problem-it was that little mechanism that kept her from doing every little thing she wanted that she needed help with. She was kissing Jess. Once she realized what she had done, Rory quickly regained control and pulled away. "Oh my God. Oh my God," is all she could spit out.  
  
"Rory." but she didn't want to know how he was going to finish that sentence. "Don't say a word!"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"I have to go," and with that she turned around to leave. But, in an effort to keep things as natural as possible, turned back to face Jess and said "Welcome home."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jess' point of view:  
  
Jess walked alongside the creak, hoping not to be noticed by anyone. Anyone but Rory of course. And then he saw her. God, she was beautiful. She turned around, a shocked look on her face.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Not exactly the response he was hoping for, but he'd recover.  
  
"Hello to you too."  
  
He could see the wheels turning in her mind; she was trying to figure out why he was here. And then a scared look crossed her face. "Is everything okay?" But he wasn't listening. He was concentrating on how beautiful she looked in that blue dress.  
  
"You look nice."  
  
"Thank you," she replied. But she wasn't going to let the fact that he had suddenly reappeared go. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I moved back."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I moved back."  
  
"But.why?" Well, let's see, he thought, because I had to see you again, because I love you. But there was no way he was going to tell her any of that. She had a boyfriend and there was no way he was going to pour his heart out to her only to have her say "I love Dean." So he'd give her as little information as possible.  
  
"Just.wanted to."  
  
Before he knew it, Rory's lips were on his. She had kissed him so suddenly that she practically knocked him over. By the time he realized what was happening and started to put his arm around her, she had pulled away.  
  
"Oh my God. Oh my God." Again, not quite the reaction he was looking for.  
  
"Rory."but she cut him off with "Don't say a word."  
  
"Okay." The truth was, he was kind of relieved she cut him off. He had no idea how he was going to finish that sentence. He wasn't exactly very good at telling people how he felt, and he had never felt anything like he did for Rory.  
  
"I have to go," she said. But before she left, she added, "welcome home."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Dean's point of view:  
  
Where was she? Where was Rory? He'd been waiting around for twenty minutes and she still hadn't come back. Dean surveyed the scene again. She wasn't at the top of the stairs where the processional would start. She wasn't with her mom. She wasn't even with her dad. Where was she?  
  
And then he spotted her. She was standing down by the river, wandering around aimlessly. Dean hated it when she was more than thirty feet away from him. He hated it even more since that Jess guy had shown up. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rory; he didn't trust Jess. Thank goodness he was gone forever.  
  
Just as Dean was about to walk down the hill to Rory, the guy he'd been thinking about showed up. Jess. What was he doing here? He was supposed to have been outcast from Star's Hollow, never to return. But he was back. And he was talking to Rory. What did Rory see in this guy? Well of course she didn't see anything in him in that way, but why was she even friends with him? Dean would just have to walk down there, make a tough face at Jess, and pull Rory away.  
  
But then it happened. It took only an instant, but Dean knew exactly what happened. Rory and Jess kissed. But it wasn't just any kiss. Rory had initiated it. Rory. The only person in that pair he thought he could trust had ripped his heart out and stomped all over it. Dean was about to run down there, but just as quickly as she had kissed Jess, Rory ran away, out of Dean's sight. He was going to have to have a serious talking to with her after the reception.  
  
Next time: Not that Dean knows, Rory has nothing to hide and she and Jess can be together, right? Things aren't going to be that easy when the three find themselves together at the reception. 


	2. The Dance

Jess spent the next ten minutes standing in the same spot down by the creek with a silly grin on his face. She kissed him. SHE kissed him. He always assumed that, if it happened, it would be the other way around. Was this just a one-time thing or was Rory going to break up with Dean now? Jess shook the questions out of his head, trying not to overanalyze the situation. He just wanted to concentrate on the feeling of that kiss.  
  
By the time he had snapped back to reality and realized that he was hiding in the woods with a ridiculous grin on his face, Luke had spotted him. He thought about running, but that seemed like a stupid idea. So, instead he wiped the grin off his face and waited for Luke to walk down to where he was standing.  
  
"What do you think you're doing here?" Luke asked.  
  
"Nothing much."  
  
"I told you to stay at the diner until I could smooth things over with everyone."  
  
"Well, I just had to get out and enjoy the beauty of Star's Hollow."  
  
"Okay, fine. The wedding ceremony's over and Lorelai's already seen you here, so you may as well stay for the reception." Jess thought about the proposition for a minute. He really had no interest in going to any reception, but then again, Rory would be there.  
  
"Whatever," he responded, which translated to "okay, I'll go to the reception" in Jess-speak.  
  
Luke led the way up the hill to the reception hall. Just outside the door, Luke told Jess to wait there, as he went inside to find out if Sookie and Jackson minded if Jess came in. Apparently, they were fine with it, because Luke came out a minute later and motioned for Jess to step inside.  
  
As he entered the hall, Jess could feel all eyes staring at him, not that he really cared. He just wanted to spot Rory, without seeming like he was looking for her. He found her standing in a corner talking to her mom, who seemed upset about something. About a minute later, Lorelai walked away and Rory was left standing alone, looking shy and lonely. For some reason, Dean was standing on the other side of the room, just staring at Rory. Jess couldn't figure why he wasn't with Rory; the guy seemed to spend every possible second with her. At that moment, Jess came up with a plan that would allow him to spend a moment with Rory and simultaneously make Dean jealous.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory stood in the corner, wishing she could break down the wall and run away without being noticed. She was glad that her mom had walked away; she wanted a second alone to think. And she was also glad that Dean was keeping his distance, for whatever reason. She was just feeling too guilty to face him at this moment.  
  
Suddenly, she noticed Jess approaching. All she could think was, "why on earth is he here and is my mom going to kill him when she notices?" When he arrived in front of her, her reaction was as equally polite as it had been when she noticed him down by the creek.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"You're not good at this whole polite greeting thing are you?"  
  
"Sorry," she muttered as she tried to regain her composure. "Seriously, though. My mom and Sookie and Luke are all going to kill you when they see you here."  
  
"Chill. It's cool with them."  
  
Rory still had more questions, but decided to just let it go. After about a minute of awkward silence, Rory was beginning to wonder if she should ask one of those questions, when Jess posed one of his own.  
  
"Would you like to dance?" Part of her desperately wanted to dance with him, to be in his arms. The other part of her wanted to shout, "How dare you, you cad! I have a boyfriend whom I love and would never betray with the likes of you!" Ultimately, when she noticed that Dean had walked off to the bathroom, she decided to do the polite thing and say yes.  
  
When they got to the dance floor, things were just as awkward as Rory feared they would be. They spent a few seconds trying to decide where to put their hands. Jess started to put his hands on her waist, but then pulled away; Rory started to put her hands around his shoulders, but also pulled away. Finally, they settled on the traditional dancing pose with her hand in his. Rory spent most of the dance looking off to the side, desperately trying to avoid looking into Jess' piercing eyes.  
  
Just as the song was ending, Dean stepped out of the bathroom, and automatically fixed his radar on Rory. Rory knew Dean would be upset that she was dancing with Jess, so she pulled away from Jess as soon as the song ended. Clearly sensing something was going on, Jess turned around to face Dean.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Dean yelled.  
  
"Just dancing," Jess responded in his usual nonchalant way. Dean stood right in Jess' face, showing his height advantage, and poked a finger in Jess' chest.  
  
"Yeah. Well, don't," he said in his toughest voice possible.  
  
"Whatever," Jess responded. "I'm out of here anyway. Bye, Rory." Just as he said those last two words, he quickly pecked Rory on the cheek, sending more shivers through her than any real kiss from Dean ever had. And with that, he left.  
  
Rory tried desperately to act as if nothing were wrong.  
  
"So, you want to dance?" she asked Dean casually. Dean looked as though he couldn't decide if he should murder Jess or cry.  
  
"I'm out of here."  
  
Next time: will Rory ever be able to repair her relationship with Dean? Does she even want to? 


	3. The Breakup

Author's Notes: Just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and ask you all to please submit more! This is my first fan fic, so I need all the feedback I can get. I'm incorporating some of your suggestions about Jess' behavior, so I hope you like it. Also, if anyone has any fan fic that they would like me to read and proofread/give suggestions on, e-mail me at calliope529@yahoo.com. I'm the editor of my school's literary/pop culture magazine and I want to be an editor at a publishing house when I grow up, so I would LOVE to help out.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
As he reached the door of the diner, Jess began to put the key in the lock. After a moment's hesitation, he thought better of it, and decided to just sit outside for a minute. He needed a second alone, and at 9:00 pm, the streets of Star's Hollow were deserted. Hell, at 7:00 pm, the streets of Star's Hollow were deserted.  
  
Jess wasn't quite sure what he was feeling. Part of him couldn't stop thinking about that kiss or even the kiss he'd given Rory on the cheek, for that matter. Even that had been better than all of the things he'd done with his ex-girlfriends. But the other part of him, the pit of his stomach to be exact, gave him an uneasy, sickening feeling. Just as he set himself done on the bench across from the diner, he realized what the feeling was: guilt.  
  
He'd never really felt all that guilty before, so the experience was new for him. Sure, he'd stolen a couple of lawn jockeys, and played a couple of tricks on Taylor. But, he'd never done anything that actually hurt anyone. And tonight he hurt Rory. He didn't mean to. It was just suppose to be another attempt to piss Bag Boy off. But he realized now that Rory had felt guilty about the kiss and he had only made matters worse. As he got up from the bench to go back into the diner and get some sleep, he resolved to apologize to Rory first thing in the morning.  
  
Rory trudged back along the streets of Star's Hollow, desperately not wanting to go home. She wished she could talk to her mom about all this. Her mom was her best friend, one of the only people she felt she could really talk to. And she needed to talk to someone. But her mom just wouldn't understand. She would have just gotten angry and made Rory feel guilty, and Rory didn't need to feel anymore guilty than she did right now. Rory thought about going to Lane's house. But, knowing Lane's parents, if she ever wanted full use of her legs again, she'd have to wait until morning. Finally, she just decided to go home, crawl into bed, and read Franny and Zooey for the millionth time.  
  
But as she reached her front lawn, Rory realized that that was not going to be an option. Dean was sitting on the porch, his head buried between his knees. On his face was the look of a man who had either just learned that his entire family had died in a car accident, or who had just gone on the Teacups ride and was about to be sick. Either way, it wasn't good and Rory wasn't prepared to deal with "not good" right at this moment. She decided to just act as casually as possible, not that that approach had worked at the reception.  
  
"Hey Dean, what are you doing here?" Dean looked up, tears streaking his face.  
  
"How could you Rory?" Rory's face fell. She could just feel it; he knew.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Dean jumped up and walked over to her. She'd never seen him do the towering bit on her, and she didn't like it.  
  
"Damn it, Rory! Just stop with the lies! I saw you. I saw you kiss Jess," he cried.  
  
"I-I--" Rory stammered.  
  
"Look, just stop. It's over okay. I loved you and you betrayed me, and-- it's over. You and me are done forever."  
  
Dean stared into her eyes. She knew what he wanted. He wanted her to say that he was wrong, that it was all a big misunderstanding. But they both knew that wasn't the case. Rory just let her head drop.  
  
"Don't you have anything to say?" he asked. But Rory knew what he was really asking: aren't you going to tell me that you love me and you don't want it to end? But all she could stammer out was: "I'm sorry."  
  
And that was it. Dean walked off. She knew what she had to have said. She had to have said "I love you." It wouldn't have changed anything; Dean still would have ended it. But it was the only way she could have begun to make up for what she had done. She just couldn't do it. It wasn't that she didn't love Dean; he still held a very dear place in her heart. But at that moment, it wasn't love that she was feeling for Dean. It was just sorriness and guilt.  
  
Next time: Now that Dean's out of the picture, Jess and Rory can be together right? Not when Rory takes her guilt out on the wrong person and Jess' apology doesn't quite go according to plan. 


	4. The Argument

Rory awakened the next morning to the faint sounds of whimpering coming from the kitchen. She had had such a fitful night's sleep that she wondered if she had slept at all. When she turned the alarm clock towards her and saw that it was 10:00 am, she realized she had probably dosed off around 6:00 from pure exhaustion. Before that, she had spent the night in an endless cycle of dreaming about the breakup, waking up to feel guilty about it, falling back asleep to dream about Jess, then waking up to feel guilty about that.  
  
When she finally pulled herself out of bed and trudged into the kitchen, she discovered that the whimpering noises were coming from the caffeine- free Lorelai Gilmore.  
  
"I see someone hasn't had their coffee today," Rory teased.  
  
"We're out of the good stuff and I didn't want to wake you to go to Luke's," Lorelai responded.  
  
"So? You could've gone out and bought more coffee."  
  
"Well," Lorelai responded hesitantly. "Since you and Dean, um, broke up, you know, I didn't really think I should go to Doose's."  
  
Rory grimaced. Having had only four hours of sleep, she hadn't exactly had the mental capacity to connect buying coffee with Dean. But then her slowly awakening mind made another connection, and a question formed:  
  
"How did you know we broke up?"  
  
"Well, Dean isn't exactly soft-spoken. Plus you were crying when you came in. I know I'm not the one in this family who's going to Harvard, but I can put two and two together." Suddenly, her tone changed from that of her usual, joking self to that of the concerned mother. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Okay." Lorelai paused. "Now do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"Okay, okay. Put some clothes on, we're going to Luke's."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jess stood at the counter, mindlessly wiping the surface with a rag. He was completely oblivious to Taylor's shouts of "Boy! Hey you, boy!" while raising his coffee mug towards Jess. All Jess could think about was Rory, which wasn't new. But this time, he wasn't thinking about their long arguments over what constituted great literature, or what it felt like to her, or even what it might feel like to do other things with her. At this moment, he thought only of what he was going to say when he apologized to her.  
  
"I wanted to apologize for causing trouble for you and Dean. I know I took the teasing thing too far by kissing you on the cheek in front of him and I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me," he played over and over in his mind. Sincerity wasn't his strong suite, but he figured he could give it a shot.  
  
Once he was sure he had his speech down cold, Jess let his mind wander a bit. For the first time, he allowed himself to hope. Maybe Rory would accept his apology, tell him that the kiss had meant as much to her as it had to him, and break up with Dean. A small smile danced in the corner of Jess' lip.  
  
When Rory and Lorelai finally arrived at well past 10:00, Jess decided to keep it cool. He wouldn't do anything until he got a signal. He didn't have to wait long because as soon as she sat down, Lorelai began to chant "coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee" as a speed that would require most humans massive amounts of caffeine to achieve. He figured this was his chance. He'd go over to serve their coffee, and Rory would look him in the eye. But she kept her eyes averted the entire time he stood at the table. So, Jess walked back behind the counter and waited. And waited. And waited. Rory did not even look in the general direction of the counter the entire meal.  
  
Finally, as Lorelai and Rory stood up to leave, Jess decided to take action. He ran out from behind the counter and touched Rory's arm.  
  
"Can we talk?"  
  
Rory turned around, a mixed look of longing and dread on her face.  
  
"Okay. Mom, I'll meet you back at home."  
  
With that, Rory and Jess walked out the door and sat down on the bench across the street. Jess took a deep breath and began his speech.  
  
"Listen, Rory, I wanted to apologize for causing trouble for you and Dean-"  
  
"My Go! Have you ever actually apologized for anything before?"  
  
Jess reeled from the out of character outburst. Rory had clearly snapped. Her face screamed anger, yet tears were streamed down from her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," she said, backpedaling. "But how could you have kissed me on the cheek right in front of Dean? He broke up with me! The only person I've ever loved broke up with me and it's all your fault!"  
  
"My fault?! You kissed me on the lip!"  
  
Rory looked down at her feet, clearly realizing that Jess was right. "I just can't believe he broke up with me over something so stupid. That kiss was just a big mistake," Rory said softly.  
  
Jess could almost feel tears well up in his eyes as he heard those last words.  
  
"Oh," he said as he stood up. "Well if that's how you feel. I'm sorry about getting between you and your true love." With that, he walked away.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory watched Jess as he walked back into the diner and then buried her heard in her hands. She could detect the bitterness in his voice when he said "true love." How could she have done this? First she hurt dean and now she had hurt Jess.  
  
She thought about going into the diner and apologizing. She even stood up and walked towards the door. But just as she reached for the door handle, she spotted Dean walking across the street. Something inside her pulled her hand away from the doorknob. She just couldn't do it. Rory lowered her head and began to walk home.  
  
Next time: Rory goes to Washington and finally realizes whom she loves. 


	5. The Hallucination

Rory perused the row of books in the Literature section of the local bookstore. She knew she had to get going. She already had twelve books, still hadn't packed, and her bus was leaving for Washington in two hours. Maybe just ten more minutes, she thought to herself.  
  
Rory paused for a second to remember the last book on her mental checklist. She hit herself in the head several times, trying to jog her memory. And then she remembered! She needed to get Seymour, an Introduction by JD Salinger. Rory ran towards the "S" row, a look of satisfaction on her face for remembering. But when she got there, the book was nowhere to be found. They had Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and Nice Stories, but no Seymour, an Introduction. Rory went up to the cashier's desk and asked the clerk if they had it in back.  
  
"I'm sorry, miss. That young man out there just bought the last copy."  
  
Rory looked out the window to where the clerk was pointing, only to see Jess walking away with the book in his hand. Rory thanked the clerk, paid for her books, and left out the back exit. She didn't feel like running into Jess at this particular moment.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory stood at the closet trying to figure out what to pack. She really just wanted to sneak into her mom's closet and steal a couple of her tops. Rory poked her head out the door and looked into the kitchen. Her mom was still sitting at the table, eating leftover Chinese for breakfast. Oh well. Rory would just have to wait until Lorelai went into the living room before she could sneak upstairs.  
  
Rory lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened at the bookstore. The fact that they had both wanted the same book kept running through her mind. It felt like a secret bond. They had both been thinking about the same thing at the same time, and that connected them somehow. She thought back to the time when she and Dean had gone to the book sale and how bored he had been. Rory got up, walked out the door, and began to run towards Luke's.  
  
Rory reached the diner in five minutes flat, panting loudly.  
  
"Luke, is Jess here?" she asked without even saying hello.  
  
"Oh sorry Rory, he's not. I don't know where he is."  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
Luke looked at his watch. "Isn't your bus leaving in twenty minutes?"  
  
"Oh my God!" Rory thought. She had been so wrapped up in wanting to apologize to Jess, that she had completely forgotten. She ran out the door and back towards the house, without so much as a goodbye to Luke.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Nearly two hours later, Jess sauntered back into the diner, reading Seymour, an Introduction. For the tenth time, he thought about just reading Franny and Zooey for the tenth time instead.  
  
"Jess, where've you been?" Luke asked from behind the counter.  
  
"Out," Jess responded without looking up from his book.  
  
"Rory was in here looking for you earlier."  
  
"Really," Jess said, finally looking up from his book. Maybe she wanted to apologize for her outburst yesterday. She was probably just upset and didn't really mean what she had said. Jess turned around and headed towards the Gilmore's house.  
  
When he finally got there, Jess took the porch steps two at a time and rang the doorbell. Lorelai answered the door. Great, he thought.  
  
"Is Rory home?"  
  
"She left two hours ago for Washington DC. She'll be gone for six weeks."  
  
"Oh." Jess felt disappointment setting in. Six weeks without Rory? What would Jess do for six weeks in Star's Hollow? He turned around to leave, but Lorelai stopped him.  
  
"Look, Jess, just leave it alone okay. I know you think now that Dean broke up with her. . .that now. . .you know. She still loves Dean, okay. So leave it alone."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jess said as he walked away. But of course, he did. It was exactly what Jess had feared.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory sighed. Three weeks in this Washington humidity, and she was about ready to kill herself. Or maybe Paris.  
  
"Earth to Rory," Paris said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Were you listening to anything I said?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah of course. I'm gonna get another iced coffee. You want anything?"  
  
"No, I'm fine."  
  
Rory got up from the table at the Starbucks inside the Georgetown bookstore. As she walked up to the counter, a flash of black hair in the corner of her eye distracted her. She lost her concentration and banged into a bookshelf. When she looked up at what she had hit, what should she see in front of her but a copy of Seymour, an Introduction. Her mind wandered back to that day in the bookstore, and then further back to the kiss. Rory's eyelids became heavy and closed as she thought of it. But then she snapped back to attention suddenly, shook away the memory, and took the book off the shelf to purchase.  
  
When she got to the Starbucks counter, the spiky black-haired clerk had his back to her.  
  
"Excuse me," Rory said politely. The clerk turned around, and who should it be but Jess!  
  
"Jess! What are you doing here?" Rory cried.  
  
"Excuse me? I think you have me mistaken for someone else."  
  
And suddenly Rory realized she had. The clerk was not Jess. She had just been imagining things. Rory walked away from the counter, forgetting to order her iced coffee. She knew what she had to do. As soon as she got back to Star's Hollow, she had to tell Jess she loved him.  
  
Next time: Dean and Jess take their anger out on each other, with surprising results that could just make things even more complicated. 


	6. The Fight

Jess sat at the counter, reading Seymour, an Introduction, waiting for his shift to start. Although he was almost finished with it, he found the book to be disappointing considering Salinger wrote it. Normally he would have gone out for a walk, or gone over to Rory's house, but since she had left, he practically hadn't left the diner once. He didn't exactly have any friends in Star's Hollow except Rory. And he wasn't even sure if that still qualified as a friendship.  
  
After reading the same paragraph five times, still having no idea what it was about, Jess threw down the book and walked out the door; he had to get out of that diner sometime, especially with all the construction going on. Anything was better than sitting in there. But soon Jess found that paying attention to where he was walking was just as hard as paying attention to that book; he suddenly crashed into something. It was Dean's back.  
  
"Hey, what the. . ." Dean turned around to see Jess. The look on his face showed that he was even angrier now that he had discovered Jess of all people was the one who ran into him.  
  
"Sorry," Jess mumbled as he kept walking past Dean. Jess wasn't in the mood to deal with Dean at this particular moment. But Dean wasn't going to let him off that easy.  
  
"Aren't you going to say anything to me?" he asked, pulling Jess back by his arm.  
  
"Say anything about what?" Jess asked, playing dumb as usual. He had a feeling this had something to do with Rory.  
  
"I don't know," Dean returned sarcastically, towering over Jess. "Maybe you could explain to me why you kissed my girlfriend?"  
  
Jess found himself getting very angry; he was beginning to feel very protective of Rory. Even though he had every right to break up with her for what she had done, Dean had still hurt her, and Jess couldn't stand to see Rory get hurt.  
  
"You better get your facts straight. She kissed me." And with that, Jess turned around and began to walk away. As much as he wanted to punch Dean in the nose, he was determined to control himself. He was having enough trouble with Rory as it was; he didn't need to add breaking her ex- boyfriend's nose to the list.  
  
But all of a sudden, the decision was no longer in Jess' hands. Dean swung Jess around with one arm and punched him right in the lip with the other. Jess reeled back from the impact. His hand went immediately to his lip and he found that it was bleeding. Before he had a chance to respond, a blond girl Jess had never seen before was standing between them.  
  
"Come on guys. Whatever this is about you can resolve it some other way," she said, directing her gaze at Dean. Before Jess knew it, Luke and Caesar were out in the street, pulling Dean away.  
  
"Dean, get out of here or I'm going to call the cops," Luke said in a tone of voice that meant he wasn't kidding. Dean just walked off in a huff.  
  
The girl who had stood between them turned her gaze towards Jess for the first time. He noticed how pretty she was. Not pretty like Rory. More sexy than pretty. And from her demeanor, she knew it.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Come on. My mom's a nurse; she can fix that cut up for you. Our house is just down the street."  
  
And so, the two of them walked off to the girl's house where her mom was more than willing to help Jess with his lip. The woman was a cross between Joan Cleaver and the millionaire's wife on Gilligan's Island, Jess thought. He had been watching a lot of re-runs since Rory left.  
  
"I'm Phoenix, by the way," the girl said when her mom left the room to throw out the bandage wrappers and cotton balls she had used on Jess' lip.  
  
"Jess," he responded. Under normal circumstances, all Jess would have been able to think about was: who in the world would name their kid Phoenix? But at this moment, all he could think about was that girl. Okay, that girl's body. "You just move here?"  
  
"Yeah, from LA. Bel-Air, actually."  
  
Phoenix' mother came back into the room.  
  
"Why don't you stay for lunch?" she asked. Cooking a meal for a guest was probably the highlight of her day.  
  
"Sure," Jess responded. Luke would understand if he wasn't on time for his shift after the fight with Dean.  
  
Jess and Phoenix spent most of lunch talking. They didn't seem to have much in common, but then again this was only their first conversation. Jess thought about maybe asking her out before he left, but quickly dismissed the thought. Phoenix ended up making the decision for him.  
  
"Your lip should be fine. Does it hurt?" she asked as she walked him to the door after lunch.  
  
"No, it's fine."  
  
"That's good." And with that, Phoenix leaned in and kissed him. It was a good kiss. It wasn't like the kiss with Rory where there was passion and emotion and anticipation of more to come. Phoenix was just really good at kissing and was clearly experienced at it. Jess thought of pulling away, but then he remembered what Lorelai had said: Rory still loved Dean. And hadn't Rory said the same thing herself?  
  
"Would you like to go out some time?" he asked.  
  
"I'd love to."  
  
Next time: Rory comes back from Washington, ready to tell Jess how she feels. But has he moved on to Phoenix? 


	7. The Return

Rory stared out the window in anticipation as the bus pulled into the Star's Hollow station. "I'm home! I'm home! I'm home!" is all she could think of. The second the bus came to a full and complete stop, Rory jumped up, grabbed her bag, and ran from the bus. She was so glad to be out of Washington DC. No Paris for a month!  
  
Lorelai couldn't pick Rory up at the bus terminal because the bus had been delayed and there was no telling when it would get in. So, Rory was on her own to walk home. As she walked down the streets of Star's Hollow, all she could think of was her warm comfy bed and her stacks and stacks of books waiting for her to read again. All she had brought on the bus was Seymour, An Introduction, and she found that the whole time she just wanted to be reading Franny and Zooey again.  
  
With so much on her mind, Rory was surprised to find herself walking towards Luke's. She had somehow completely forgotten about the only thing she had thought about for the past three weeks: Jess. She had to go in and apologize to him and tell him that she loved him. Okay, maybe she wouldn't use the word love. That might freak him out. She would just say she had feelings for him. But as she approached the door, she felt her stomach begin to do somersaults. She couldn't do it, yet. She was just too nervous. Rory resolved to go home, spend some quality time with her mom and her books and talk to him the next time they went to Luke's.  
  
When she walked in the door, she couldn't contain her excitement any longer.  
  
"Mom! Mom! I'm home!" she shouted. Lorelai ran in from the kitchen and threw her arms around Rory.  
  
"How was your trip?"  
  
"Fine. No it wasn't it was horrible! It was hot and muggy and I shared a room with Paris for six weeks!"  
  
"I'm so glad you're home. There've been a lot of changes around here. We have a new edition to the family. Come into the living room."  
  
Rory had absolutely no idea what her mother was talking about and was afraid to find out. But when they got to the living room. There was no one in sight.  
  
"This, my friend," said Lorelai in a serious tone, pointing in the general direction of the television, "is my new baby. Rory meet Mr. Satellite. Mr. Satellite meet Rory."  
  
"You got a satellite dish?"  
  
"Well I had to have something to occupy myself with while you were away. It's so great! The other day, I discovered this channel from New Zealand. And there's this one show. . .it's so funny." Lorelai chuckled to herself.  
  
"Okay," Rory said in a tone that she would use with mental patients. "I'm going to go read for a while." But just as Rory said this, she realized she had no desire to read. She just wanted to go to Luke's and see Jess. Maybe not tell him how she felt, just see him.  
  
"On second thought, I'm really hungry. Why don't we go to Luke's for dinner."  
  
"Are you sure you want to do that? I mean we see Luke all the time. Don't you want to go to Al's or something?"  
  
"What are you talking about? You hate Al's! Come on, let's go."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory had been starving all the way to Luke's, but when they finally got there, the hunger quickly slid away. The knots in her stomach were back. But she couldn't avoid Jess all summer and she did want to see him. She just wished that she hadn't said the things she did before she left; it would have made things a whole lot easier. For a second she thought of what it would be like if they were dating, and she could just run into the diner, throw her arms around him, and kiss him.  
  
Just before they entered the diner, Lorelai tried to convince Rory to change her mind once again.  
  
"Rory, are you sure you want to go here?"  
  
"What is up with you?"  
  
"Look, aside from the satellite dish, a lot of things have changed around here. I just want you to be prepared."  
  
And when Rory entered the diner, she learned what Lorelai was talking about. Jess was walking down the stairs from the apartment, hand in hand with a sleazy-looking blond girl. And then, he kissed her! Rory sat down at their usual table and quickly averted her eyes. As the girl left the diner, Rory tried to pretend that she hadn't seen any of it. But about ten seconds later, she couldn't hold it in any longer.  
  
"Is that what you were referring to?" she asked Lorelai.  
  
"Yeah. I'm so sorry honey. They started dating a couple of weeks ago. According to Luke, they spend every minute making out and probably haven't even spoken to each other. . ." Lorelai's brain caught up with her mouth and she stopped herself. "But you probably didn't need to know that."  
  
"What's her name?" Rory asked tentatively.  
  
"Phoenix."  
  
"Phoenix? Who names their kid Phoenix?"  
  
Lorelai chuckled to herself, lost in her own little universe. "Sikita and Leo would have named their kid Phoenix," she mumbled.  
  
"Are these your new friends from Magical Satellite Dish Land?"  
  
"Yeah sorry," Lorelai responded, coming back to Earth. "Well, at least you still have your sense of humor."  
  
Rory turned her head away, trying to see where Luke was so they could order already. But Luke wasn't whom she saw. It was Jess. He was still standing there at the foot of the stairs, looking right at her. And it was clear that he had been since the moment they got there. He quickly looked away and busied himself with pouring someone a cup of coffee. The prospect of telling him how she felt was looking worse and worse by the minute.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jess watched Rory as she and Lorelai got up from their table to leave. He had to talk to her. She had seen him kiss Phoenix, he just knew it.  
  
"Rory, can we talk?" he asked, touching her on the shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, sure," she responded reluctantly.  
  
Jess led the way outside. He began to walk towards the bench, but then thought better of it, remembering the last "talk" they had had there. He led her, instead, down the street. Just as Jess opened his mouth to begin, he realized he had no idea what to say. So Rory began instead.  
  
"So, you're seeing this girl Phoenix, huh?" she asked, cutting right to the chase.  
  
"Um, yeah." What he really wanted to say was "well, since you're still in love with Dean, I had to get over you somehow, and this seemed like the best way." But he didn't.  
  
"Look, I'm really sorry about what I said before I left."  
  
Jess feared that Rory would think he was dating Phoenix to get back at her. He wasn't, he just needed something to keep his mind off of her. Not that it was really working. "My dating Phoenix has nothing to do with that," he blurted out, instantly regretting it.  
  
"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'll see you around," Rory said suddenly, ending the conversation. She turned around abruptly, and began to walk home at a brisk pace.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The minute Rory was out of Jess' view, she broke into a run. She didn't stop until she reached her porch, tripped over the step, and tumbled to the ground. She just lay there on the stairs, holding herself and crying. She hadn't realized until that moment when he said that dating Phoenix wasn't about her how much she really loved Jess. She had left so quickly because she didn't want him to see her cry. The kiss had meant nothing to him. He wasn't fazed by her saying that it was a mistake. As soon as Rory was gone, he just forgotten about her and found someone else.  
  
Rory picked herself up with conviction and stomped into the house. She grabbed her copy of Seymour, an Introduction off the entry hall table. If it hadn't been for that stupid book, she never would have realized how she felt about Jess, and she never would have gotten hurt. She walked back outside and hurled the book at the hedges as hard as she could. Pushing Jess into the lake would have probably been more cathartic, but this was something.  
  
Next time: Jess and Phoenix finally do something other than make out and he realizes how he truly feels. 


	8. The Date

Jess opened his eyes to look at the clock. 3:55 pm. Where had the time gone? He and Phoenix had been making out for almost two hours. He pulled away from her.  
  
"What? Is something wrong?" she asked.  
  
"No. My shift starts in five minutes."  
  
A pout formed on Phoenix' face. "Okay," she said in a whinny voice. "Just one more."  
  
With that, she kissed him again. It was like every other kiss they had, great technique, but no passion.  
  
"So, why don't you come over to my house tonight when your shift is done and we can pick up where we left off?" she asked.  
  
Jess sighed internally. He was actually kind of getting sick of making out with Phoenix. It was all they did. They hadn't ever gone on an actual date, and that time they had lunch together was the only time they had an actual conversation.  
  
"My parents are out of town," she continued. "So maybe we could do something a little more fun then just make out, if you know what I mean."  
  
Okay, that was it. Jess had to take action. There was no way he was sleeping with this girl after knowing her for only two weeks.  
  
"Why don't we do something different tonight?" he asked gently.  
  
"Like what?" Phoenix looked confused. She had probably never done anything with a guy except make out or "more fun things."  
  
"We can go on an actual date. I'll pick you up at 7:00, okay?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jess finished his shift at 6:55, and went upstairs to clean up before his first date with Phoenix. He reached her house at exactly 7:00.  
  
"You ready?" he asked when she answered the door.  
  
"Are you sure you don't just want to come inside?" she asked, still confused as to why he wanted to go out.  
  
"My lips need a rest."  
  
They walked over to a restaurant right next to the bookstore. He chose it because it was the farthest restaurant from the diner. The conversation at dinner was full of awkward pauses. About halfway into the meal, Jess somehow got onto the subject of Rory and he found himself going on and on about her. Of course he didn't mention anything about the kiss or his feelings for her. He knew he was probably boring Phoenix, so we would stop often to allow Phoenix to change the subject. But whenever he did, she just sat there silently. And so, he would continue.  
  
"Do you mind if we stop in the bookstore?" he asked her as they left the restaurant.  
  
"You like reading? I never got the fun of reading. I mean, why not just watch TV instead. It's so much easier. But sure, whatever." Jess decided to let that one slide. So she didn't like reading, big deal.  
  
As Jess walked down the aisle of the Literature section, he could feel Phoenix getting more and more anxious to leave. Just five more minutes, he told himself. When he reached the "F" section, he picked up the Fountainhead.  
  
"Rory made me read this book. I still don't get it," he said, thinking back to the time they ate lunch together on the bridge. When there was no response, he turned around to see that Phoenix was nowhere in sight. He walked outside and found her standing on the street corner, looking bored.  
  
"What is it with you and this Rory girl? She sounds like a real loser to me. No guy that I would date would like a girl like that," she said.  
  
That was it. As much as Jess wanted a way to get over Rory, and as good of a kisser as Phoenix was, he just couldn't do this anymore. He had to be with someone that he could have a conversation with and he could grow to love. Phoenix was not that person.  
  
"Then I guess I'm not a guy you should date," he said as gently as possible.  
  
Phoenix just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going home." And with that, she walked away.  
  
Jess knew what he had to do. Even if she didn't feel the same way, he had to tell Rory how he felt about her.  
  
Next time: Jess decides to tell Rory how he feels, but something he hears may make him change his mind. 


	9. The Eavesdropping

Author's Notes: Thank you everyone for all of your reviews. For some reason, ff.net wasn't showing me the reviews for chapters 7 and 8 and then tonight they all showed up and I had like 15 reviews! I just wanted to ask you all if you want me to write a sequel to this story? I have ideas for two sequels (a trilogy I guess). Please review and tell me if you want me to write a sequel to this story. Thanks.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory woke up out of a nightmare. She had had a dream that she was a contestant on Survivor, and she, Jess, and Phoenix were the last three contestants. She had formed an alliance with Jess. But then he and Phoenix voted her off the island! The night before she had had a dream with similar meaning that involved Toni Morrison, a can of whipped cream, and Phoenix as a magician who juggled chainsaws. Rory had to talk to someone about the whole Jess saga or the nightmares would never end.  
  
She thought about waiting until her mom got up and discussing the situation with her. That's what she would do under normal circumstances, but it just wasn't an option this time. Since Lorelai and Luke were still fighting, the mention of anything remotely connected to Luke, such as Jess, was strictly forbidden. Besides, Lorelai wasn't exactly Jess' biggest fan to begin with. So, Rory decided to call Lane. She got up, stumbled out of bed, and dialed Lane's number.  
  
"Hey, it's Rory."  
  
"Hey! How was your trip?"  
  
"It was okay. Can we talk?" Just as she said this, she heard Mrs. Kim's muffled voice yelling something in the background.  
  
"My mom doesn't want me on the phone. But we can meet somewhere and talk in person. How about we meet in the gazebo in fifteen minutes?"  
  
"Okay, I'll see you then." Rory wasn't too happy about the prospect of dressing at that very moment, but it was worth it to be able to talk to Lane and get this weight off her chest.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory arrived at the gazebo fifteen minutes later to find Lane already sitting there.  
  
"So what's up?" Lane asked as Rory sat down. Rory tried to figure out where she should start. What events had she recounted to Lane? And then she realized she hadn't told her anything. She'd have to start at the beginning with the kiss. She took a deep breath, and began.  
  
"Well, you know that Jess got sent back to New York because of the whole car accident thing, right? Well, he moved back."  
  
"Yeah, I've seen him around. How did he manage that?"  
  
"He just wanted to move back and Luke gave in, I guess. So anyway, he showed up at Sookie and Jackson's wedding--"  
  
"He did? What happened?" Lane interrupted.  
  
"Okay, if you're going to interrupt me every time you hear a shocking revelation, we're going to be here all morning."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Anyway, he showed up at Sookie and Jackson's wedding. And I don't know what happened, but. . . I kissed him," she waited for Lane to interrupt again, but Lane's just remained shocked in silence.  
  
"Well," Rory rambled on at top speed. "It turns out that Dean saw the whole thing and so he broke up with me. I was obviously upset about it, so I sort of took it out on Jess the next morning and told him the kiss didn't mean anything. But then I realized when I was in Washington that it did mean something and that I think I'm in love with him. So I came home all ready to tell him how I feel, and it turns out that he has a girlfriend. This slutty girl named Phoenix. Did you get all that?"  
  
"I sort of wish I had been taking notes, but yeah, I think I got it."  
  
"So what should I do?"  
  
"Well, if you don't tell him how you feel, it will probably be eating away at you. You need to get it off your chest. Besides, you have to take the chance, right?"  
  
"Okay. I'll tell him," Rory said firmly.  
  
"But then again, he might reject you. And then you'd feel even worse than if you had just kept it to yourself."  
  
"So, which is it? Tell him or not?"  
  
"I don't know. This is a tough one."  
  
Rory pulled on her hair in frustration. "Argh! I wish that I could just say that I never had feelings for Jess and never could. It would make things so much easier."  
  
She paused for a second to regain composure. "But I think I'm going to tell him. It can't be any worse than it already is."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jess sat down on the park bench behind the gazebo to finish Seymour, an Introduction in peace. But he soon found that he had traded in the sound of hammers and drills in the diner for the sound of a leaf blower. He could just barely hear two people talking inside the gazebo, and wondered how they could carry on a conversation through all the noise.  
  
Jess read one paragraph five times without understanding a word before deciding that he would never get any reading done here. But just as he got up to go back into the diner, the leaf blower stopped and he found that he could fully hear the conversation coming from the gazebo. It was Rory's voice.  
  
". . .I never had feelings for Jess and never could," is all he heard before the leaf blower began again.  
  
Jess felt his heart begin to fall. He had always feared that Rory didn't really have feelings for him; that she still loved Dean. It was exactly what Lorelai had said. But hearing it come straight from her was more than he could bear. Jess felt tears well up in his eyes, but he pushed them away. He hadn't cried in five years, and he wasn't going to do it now. He took a deep breath and walked away from the gazebo with determination. Phoenix wasn't the answer, but Jess would have to find someway of getting over Rory. For good.  
  
Next time: Rory and Jess have another confrontation that leads to one of them exposing how they truly feel. But they won't be riding off into the sunset just yet. 


	10. The Silent Treatment

Author's Notes: Sorry this is so short. I just wanted to get it up as soon as possible. By the way, don't worry! There will be two more chapters and THERE WILL BE A HAPPY ENDING.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rory woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. Today was the day. She would finally tell Jess how she felt about him. She leaped out of bed, and danced into the kitchen.  
  
"Good morning!" she said to her mom.  
  
"Well someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning," Lorelai said in an exaggeratedly chipper tone. "Get dressed, we're going to Luke's."  
  
Exactly what Rory had wanted to hear. She raced back into her room and began to throw on a t-shirt and crummy old pair of jeans. But then she stopped herself. Did she really want to tell Jess how she felt looking like that? Maybe she'd wear that lacy tank top she stole from her mom and those new tight jeans. No, this was stupid, she thought. She wasn't this kind of girl. She didn't want Jess to like her because of that; she wanted him to like her for who she was. She put on the plain t-shirt, but decided to wear the new tight jeans with it. It couldn't hurt.  
  
When she entered the diner, Rory had a hard time not smiling. She wanted to remain as casual as possible. She would act as if it were any other day when Jess brought the coffee. She'd make eye contact and smile, but not say anything. Then she would pull him aside when they were done with breakfast, and tell him.  
  
But things didn't quite go according to plan. It took ten minutes of Lorelai chanting "coffee, coffee, coffee" for Jess to finally look up from his book and bring over the pot. And then, when Rory tried to make eye contact and smile, he wouldn't even look in her general direction. Something was clearly wrong. She decided to pull him aside after breakfast anyway. But just as Rory and Lorelai got up from the table to leave, Jess practically ran out of the diner. Rory soon caught up with him.  
  
"Jess, can I talk to you?" she asked from a couple feet behind him.  
  
"Not now, Rory," he replied without even looking at her.  
  
"Jess, come on. This is important." He didn't respond. Rory caught up to him and pulled him around to face her. He would have to say something now.  
  
"Jess, are you mad at me?"  
  
"No, Rory. Why would you think that?" he said in a clearly sarcastic tone.  
  
"Jess, come on. I can't apologize for whatever I did if you don't tell me what I did."  
  
"You're just. . .not the person I thought you were." And with that, he began to walk away. But Rory wasn't going to let him off that easy. She chased after him, and soon had him pinned against a wall.  
  
"Please, tell me what I did. You know I would never do anything to hurt you." She remembered the time she had said that to Dean. But she had hurt Dean. She shook away the growing guilt inside of her so that she could concentrate on the task at hand.  
  
"I heard you say how you feel about me, okay. I just never expected something like that from you." Rory was thoroughly confused. The only time she had spoken about her feelings was to Lane the day before; she hadn't said a single mean thing about Jess.  
  
"Jess, what are you talking about? I don't know what you heard, but. . .I care about you."  
  
Jess' face softened for a minute. She knew that he wanted to believe her. "I care about you too. A lot," he said. But then his face hardened again and the protective wall that always seemed to encircle him was back. "At least I thought I did."  
  
Next time: Jess learns what Rory really said to Lane. But will he finally tell her how he feels? 


	11. The Explanation

Rory sat slumped against the front door, crying. This was the second time in a week that she had cried over Jess. Why was he stirring up so much emotion in her? A thumping on the door startled Rory. She picked herself up and answered it. It was Lane.  
  
"Hey, how did it go-" but Lane stopped herself when she saw the look on Rory's face. "What happened?"  
  
"I went over there and he was acting really weird. He wouldn't really talk to me or look me in the eye. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that he heard me say something that made him change how he felt about me or something." The tears that Rory had been able to contain began to flow again.  
  
"I' so sorry, Rory," Lane said, hugging her friend. Suddenly, she pulled away with a sneaky look on her face. "I have to go."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lane took a deep breath before entering Luke's diner. She had only spoken to Jess a couple of times at school. Usually he would just ask to borrow a pen or copy her homework. But Lane knew what she had to do. She had to find out what Jess thought Rory had said. It was just what friends did.  
  
"Hey Luke. Is Jess here?"  
  
Luke raised an eyebrow. He was obviously confused as to why Lane would want to see Jess. "He's upstairs. You can go on up."  
  
Lane took another deep breath before knocking on the apartment door. She had the sudden urge to turn around and bolt, but Jess answered the door before she had the chance. There was no turning back now.  
  
"Lane? What are you doing here?" Jess had the same look on his face that Luke had a minute before.  
  
"I need to talk to you about Rory."  
  
Jess turned around and walked back into the apartment, tacitly inviting Lane in.  
  
"What about her?" he asked.  
  
"She's really upset. She said you think she said something that hurt you. She honestly has no idea what she did. I think you should talk to her."  
  
Jess sighed. He clearly didn't want to think about this incident anymore. Jess always seemed to have this wall around him that kept any feelings out. Lane figured that whatever Rory had said was getting in through that wall.  
  
"I just can't be around Rory right now."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because she said that she never cared about me and never could," he blurted out. His face showed that he instantly regretted it.  
  
"Lane was thoroughly confused. Rory would never have said that. "When did she say this?"  
  
"When you two were in the gazebo the other day," Jess said in a defeated tone. "I heard you."  
  
Lane thought back over everything that was said that day. Suddenly, a light bulb went off. "No, she said 'I wish I could say that I never had feelings for Jess and never could. She likes you Jess. She really likes you." As much as Lane wanted to tell him that Rory loved him, she didn't. It just wasn't her place.  
  
"Are you serious?" he asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.  
  
"I swear."  
  
An awkward silence fell. They had run out of things to say. Lane said goodbye, and left.  
  
Next time: THE FINAL CHAPTER! Lane and Rory go to a party and an unexpected guest arrives. 


	12. The End

Rory slipped the lacy tank top over her head. Could she sneak out of the house without her mom knowing she was wearing her shirt? Probably not. Rory walked out of her bedroom and into the living room.  
  
"I'm borrowing your shirt mom," she said as she walked to the front door. She paused for a second before opening the door, deciding if she was really going to go. Lane had invited her to a party for the public school kids. Rory shrugged. Going to the party couldn't be that bad. She opened the door and started walking to Lane's house.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
When Rory got the party, she realized that drinking an entire bottle of water before leaving the house hadn't been the best idea. She made a beeline for the bathroom, only to find that there were about fifteen people waiting in line, which curved around the corner. Rory could just make out the voices of two girls from the front of the line.  
  
"Hey Phoenix, what ever happened with you and that guy?" one girl asked.  
  
"Who, Jess? It didn't really work out. All he wanted to do was talk about this Rory girl so I dumped him," Phoenix replied.  
  
"Rory Gilmore? Her boyfriend is so hot," the same girl replied.  
  
"No, they're not going out anymore. I heard he broke up with her because she kissed some other guy right in front of him," said a third girl.  
  
"Oh my God! What a bitch!" Rory could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she heard this.  
  
"I know. Plus, the guy that she kissed isn't even interested in her. He started dating someone else right afterwards!"  
  
That was enough to cause the dam to break. Rory tore out the front door crying, completely forgetting about her bladder. All of the guilt that she had pushed down was surging back up. How could she have been so horrible as to kiss Jess in front of Dean? How could she hurt him like that and then not give it a second thought? As soon as Dean was out the picture, all she had thought about was Jess.  
  
And she had hurt Jess too. She had told him that the kiss hadn't meant anything and then she said something else that hurt him even more. Rory wished that she could turn back the clock. She just wanted to go back to before the kiss, break up with Dean in the nicest way possible, and then tell Jess how she felt. But she couldn't. Both of them hated her, and it was because of her own selfishness and callousness.  
  
Rory looked up to see a tall black-haired figure approaching. As the figure got closer, she could see it was Jess. She wiped her eyes and stood up.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
"Well this is a Star's Hollow High party and I do go to Star's Hollow High."  
  
"Good point," she responded, feeling nervous.  
  
"Don't look so happy to see me," Jess said, noting Rory's tears.  
  
Rory tried to think of the words to explain. She wanted to tell him how bad she felt about hurting Dean and she wanted to apologize to him. But she just didn't know how. "I. . .um. . ."  
  
Jess approached her and put his arms around her. It was the first time he had ever hugged her and she liked the feeling of his strong arms and hard chest. She forgot what she was so upset about for a second.  
  
"I'm sorry I'm crying. I'm getting tears all over you," she said.  
  
"That's okay," he said. "It gives me an excuse to hold you."  
  
She pulled away and looked up at him, confused. Just yesterday he wouldn't even talk to her. What had changed suddenly?  
  
"What?"  
  
Jess looked down, embarrassed at what he had said. Or maybe he was trying to find the right words for what he wanted to say next.  
  
"Rory, I have feemings fer yo" he mumbled. It sort of sounded like 'I have feelings for you.'  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh screw it," Jess said, sighing. She could see him casting aside his protective wall. "I love you," he blurted out. "I. . .I'm in love with you."  
  
"I love you too," she said for the first time out loud. "I'm so sorry for whatever I said that--"  
  
"Don't worry about it. It was just a misunderstanding," he interrupted.  
  
They stood there for a second, just looking at each other. Jess took a step closer. He was right up next to Rory. He cupped her cheek, pausing for a second to look into her eyes. And then he kissed her. It was full of passion and tenderness. And love. It was nothing like the first kiss, a kiss of eagerness and anticipation. Rory had the feeling this time that she could stand there forever, just kissing him.  
  
Look for the sequel, What Dean Saw II: Rory and Jess are happy in their relationship. But will someone else's budding romance cost Rory that and a friendship? 


End file.
